The national structure of Junior Chamber of International, Nigeria has held the foundation-laying ceremony for its proposed multi-million national secretariat at Makun City, Sagamu, Ogun State, Nigeria.
 
The National President of the organisation, Olawale Bakare at the ceremony thanked all the members who made contributions to the positive growth of the organisation, most especially towards making the dream of the building a reality.
 
Bakare in his opening remark said that it is good enough for the organisation to have a national secretariat of its own where officials and secretariat functions can be performed, adding the that drive of this year’s theme known as One Legacy which means Opportunity, Networking and Empowerment for members is what birth the official groundbreaking of the national secretariat.
 
“The commitment I made as the national president with my team is to build a national secretariat for the organisation. It might have taken us this long, but we are happy that we are achieving the landmark today”
 
“The drive and passion I have for this project is born of the need for this project to happen. There are organizations that are not as big as JCI that have their own secretariats. How would an organisation that has contributed immensely to our life and contributed to the country’s national growth won’t have its own secretariat? he asked.
 
He explained that raising funds for the project started from his social media status asking members to donate one brick towards the project.
 
“I can proudly tell you today that we have raised an amount in excess of 23 million Naira. We have 23 million naira to start this project. The truth is that when we start the project in January 2023, we are not stopping”, Bakare said.
 
He thanked all members who made contributions to the project and encouraged them to extend such support to the 2023 President and the committee chairpersons to ensure that  the building is completed before December, 2023.
 
He pointed out that two committees were set up to start phase one of the project, the fundraising committee and the building committee, they are headed by JCI Senator Dayo Niyi Idowu and JCI Senator Charles Onyibe respectively. 
 
In his words, Senator Niyi-Idowu called for support of all JCI Nigeria’s institutions that include JCI Nigeria Foundation, JCI Nigeria Senate and JCI Nigeria that include the Local Organisations and Collegiate Chapters.
 
“I am happy to be part of this. We have a target of raising 125 million naira. We want you to take this to your various Local Organisation, charging your members to contribute at least 1 brick or a bag of cement. Imagine if all collegiate members contribute a  brick towards the project, this will go a long way for JCI”, he urged.
 
Onyibe also assured members of the organisation that the building is going to be outstanding, as the design concept for the building has been submitted for approval and construction of the building which will start in the 2nd week of January next year, 2023.
 
“All we are going to be doing, building the national secretariat will be done professionally. When we come back this time next year, we are going to be opening the building by God’s grace”, Charles Onyibe assured.
 
JCI is a global youth organisation that provides development opportunities for young people to create positive change.
 
The organisation focuses on providing tools, resources, and human capital to execute various projects that will aid the development of members and young people across the nation.